Simpedia

Kerry V., Australia

You told Karen about the Blues being a significant part of the SM program. She agreed to your teaching her. You told her this and yet you think it will be okay to delete it all because a student does not like them? Is it because you don’t like the challenge of being in charge and tell her that this is to be done? Is it because you don’t want to lose her as a student?

When students have an issue with a particular genre it may not be because they “don’t like it” but more that they don’t understand it. (Or they don’t like it because they don’t understand it!)  Usually students may not like “Star Spangled Banner” here in Aussie land but when explained they are not playing the song but a bunch of chords that so happens to fit the song, and then suggest they change the words, there are no more issues, questions or concerns with the song, and accompaniments.

The Blues IS an integral part of the SM program and deleting it will be detrimental for your student and for you.

One, if you decide to take them out, she has claimed territory so what would she fight for next time!

Two, If you look at the Blues positions, they correlate with the accompaniment program. You get to understand more why notes can be played together, or not, you see positions better in relating to patterns or shapes. One example of this is seeing that the F key is a white key before the three blacks, compared to the C key a white before two blacks. It helps with the mapping for later levels.

Three: It brings out the Blues Scale. Teach this as a duet in the class and see how much they all enjoy it.

Four: Karen may have had previous experience, but never lose sight that the ‘experienced’ traditional student may not know, or be aware, of many other aspects that SM can and does present. They may be moving fast but do they know how to play sentence four of Fur Elise without playing the whole song? Do they know the strategies of all the songs they are playing now?

Remind Karen that if she forgets the fact it is “Blues” but look beyond and to see the learning strategies, you may see something wonderful emerge, as well as for her self. Have her play with the keyboard turned off (if electric, but if acoustic, have her not press the keys, or work on the paper key pad) so she can see what is happening in the fingers and notes. So much more learning can happen this way.

Five: The Jazz program will be so much easier for her to grasp with the Blues background but such a terrible loss if she doesn’t do it.

Six: Sometimes life is about learning new things, no matter the age but sometimes the older you are the more etched you are in your ways of doing things. Become a challenge for her and stand firm with SM. EVERYTHING in SM is there for a reason and if you drop it, you do yourself and others a disservice.  The songs she will miss out on because of stubbornness will be greatly disturbing to me.

Seven: Think too that Karen tells a friend how wonderful SM is. That friend starts up and expects the same treatment that Karen received, that is, do what she wants not what SM and the teacher expects, do I need to go further?

Talk to Karen about the importance of ALL genres and to let go of her dislike and learn the piece to see what learning comes from it. If Karen is not happy, then you need to wish her well.

Cindy B., Illinois

I have a lot of adult students who have expressed preferences like what you are describing. On one hand, I understand what they’re saying – by the time a person is 65, it’s natural to be pretty settled in what you want to spend your time doing and what you’d rather just pass on. The problem with micromanaging, if that’s the right word, the SM method is that it is presented as a whole entity and anything you ‘remove’ from the method will have an impact on the end result that we promise them in the Free Introductory Session.

Everything that I’ve encountered in the program has a relationship to a prior lesson, and I personally cannot guarantee that the outcome will be what SM promises if we remove some parts. For instance, I have an adult very much like yours, same age, same lack of enthusiasm for the blues. She is in a shared lesson and the other student is quite happy with the blues and every other part of the program. I hope I have made it VERY CLEAR to her that if she wants to learn to read music, and be able to play what she reads (which is her expressed goal), we can’t skip over any part of the program.

Across the board, when a student tells me they don’t like the blues, or they don’t like composition and improv, I know that there is fear involved in what they’re saying. I know that they’re just pulling away from what the Simply Music method is trying to give them – pianistic freedom and originality. When you watch an accomplished pianist play the piano, their hands fly – they aren’t anchored to the board. They know where the notes are that they intend to play and they play them with confidence. Without the blues – I can’t bring a student to that.

Lori K., Michigan

I think the definitive answer to this is that leaving out any element–especially of the foundation program– would be a violation of licensing. Everything was included in SM for a reason and I think we just have to trust the proven method.

That being said, I can sort of relate to your situation. I had a student who only wanted to do Accompaniment–nothing else. She is no longer a student BUT when I asked Neil for advice he said that it basically boiled down to licensing and requirements of the program–regardless of what the student wanted to do.

I wish you the best with this student and I hope that she’s patient and sees the value of the program as a whole.